Admittedly, I was not present at Villa Park on Saturday. In the rare event of not being able to make a game I always feel a sense of guilt or indeed what I might be missing out on. As it turned out, a weekend at the 80's Rewind Festival at Henley with the wife and friends turned out to be a much better option and far more entertaining than the apparent feast or lack of it served up in the Midlands.

One of the many bands on show were Go West who did a rendition of their 1989 hit 'King of Wishful Thinking'. This could be attributed to Steve Kean who described that Rovers produced a 'good performance'. 80's keyboard king, Howard Jones probably summed things up best when he sang 'Things can only get better' (not the insipid D:Ream Labour Party anthem). Whatever way we look at it, these are awfully challenging times for all Rovers supporters.

We are promised new faces this week and indeed it seems that midfielder/ winger/ forward etc etc Simon Vukcevic has signed for the club this evening. Steve Kean says he will add "a totally different dimension" to the team. We all hope this will be the case but as things stand, the Montenegrin will have to re-invent the laws of science to improve things. It also appears that George John is on the verge of providing defensive cover from FC Dallas if the 24 year old can sort out some passport difficulties.

The most intriguing signing could be that of Vedad Ibisevic who has an excellent goal scoring record in the Bundesliga with Hoffenheim. Whether he can reproduce his exploits in the Premier League remains to be seen. Reports also suggest that Steve Kean has flown out of the country tonight for talks with another striker. Speculation is that this could be Papiss Cisse who was a Rovers target earlier in the season and appears to be unsettled at Freiburg.

Whatever materialises in the transfer market, Rovers desperately need new faces to try and lift the doom and gloom that currently enshrouds Ewood Park. But will this be enough for the fans to tentatively put their faith in Steve Kean and his managerial team? In the bear pit which is the political arena there comes a time when the weight of public opinion becomes so intense for change that whatever good someone may do, this will not be enough to appease the masses. Politics in this sense is very similar to football. Once people have made up their minds, it is very difficult to change them.

Steve Kean may not be a dead man walking just yet but it is going to take something very special for the Ewood faithful to begin to warm to the man. The thawing out period has to begin against Wednesday on Wednesday. Kean must play a strong side to achieve a positive result to kick start the season and provide a cup run which could ironically prove to be a welcome diversion to the league programme.

In another development, co owner Venkatesh Rao, talking to Granada Television insisted that they will invest in the club but want to make sure they will get value for money in any investment they make. They again reiterated that they were fully behind Kean and that Rovers was their "baby" and will be looked after.

Their offspring is nearly coming up to its first birthday. Can they honestly say they have given it the best possible start in life?

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